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Putin and Erdogan begin carving up northern Syria

Hannah Lucinda Smith, Istanbul

December 2 2016, 12:01am, The Times

Residents of eastern, rebel-held parts of Aleppo head for a safer area of the city. In the deal between Russia and Turkey, which has supported anti-Assad rebels, the city will remain in the Russians’ sphere of influenceThaer Mohammed/Getty Images

Turkey and Russia have begun a carve-up of northern Syria in an attempt to bring the country’s five-and-a-half year civil war towards an end.

President Putin of Russia and President Erdogan of Turkey have backed opposing sides in Syria since the uprising began in 2011, with Ankara sponsoring various rebel groups and hosting Syria’s political opposition-in-exile, and the Kremlin lending extensive military support to President Assad.

Now, prompted by domestic strife and external realpolitik, Mr Erdogan appears to be downsizing his aims and recasting Turkey in a peacemaking role while aiming to secure, with Russia’s tacit approval, a large area of northern Syria as a semi-permanent buffer zone under its control.

Syrians who have fled rebel-held areas in Aleppo are given food by an aid agency in a warehouse in a village on the city’s outskirtsGeorge Ourfalian/Getty Images

Turkish forces and allied rebel militias have seized an area of 770sq miles in…